Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 24/06/2017

Gigantica has been on amazing form recently. The catch reports have seen significant increases in the number of carp landed during the first six months of the year. In the first six months of 2016 there were 86 carp landed on the Main Lake; compared to 224 carp landed over the same period in 2017! It is anyones guess as to what the final tally will be at the end of the year.....we know it's going to be great fun finding out!

A few changes have been made on the Main Lake recently; including the removal of the tree-line snags, the introduction of 37 Gigantica reared stock fish and also stopping the use of the rowing boats for baiting up. A combination of these changes have resulted in the visiting anglers having some amazing captures in 2017. We had a group of nine anglers on the Main Lake this week and little did they know what the lakes residents had in store for them.

The weather conditions were excellent with low pressure, south westerly winds and overcast days. We couldn't have asked for better. The week started very positively and by noon on Sunday six fish had already been landed around the lake, including the capture of a 54lb 8oz Mirror known as Pip’s by Paul Carpenter who was fishing in The Alamo. Paul was delighted with his new PB and he continued to plunder the fish for the rest of the week, taking a thirteen fish catch including a 42lb PB Common, five thirties and six twenties. He was fishing the right hand side of the swim and fished all three rods close together at 25 wraps, baiting up with pre-soaked Activ Baits Solutions, Plan B boilies and maize, topping up after every fish. His lucky red shorts which cost him the princely sum of £8, were the subject of much ridicule during the week.

James Hayden who was starting his third week (we think he's beginning to take root) was set up in Pole Position and got his week got off to a brilliant start when he received a double take, which resulted in a brace of forties! He also had an almost unheard of, triple take later on in the week. He chose to fish all three rods close together in a weed free area at 27.5 wraps towards The Stink, baiting consistently and accurately with the Spomb every evening, and topping up after a fish. His hooklinks consisted of Korda Dark Matter Braid in 30lb to a Size 4 Korda Curv shank hook, fished blow-back style. He baited these with a Baitworks Royal Marine Hardened Bottom Baits and a trimmed down piece of Korda Fake Maize. By the end of the week, James had also amassed a thirteen fish haul, with his largest fish The Big Bollox Common at 51lb along with two forties, a thirty, six twenties and a couple of doubles. One of the doubles turned out to be a November stock fish, which had put on a staggering 3lb 12oz in a couple of months!

Daniel Schmitz had made the trip down from Germany and his first trip to Gigantica will undoubtedly live long in the memory. He also got off the mark in the ever popular Alcatraz swim quickly, taking two thirties on Sunday morning. Receiving action consistently throughout the week he landed nine fish in total; including a stunning and highly desirable 45lb 8oz Mirror known as The Cheese. The total for the week consisted of one forty, four thirties, three twenties and a pretty double figure Mirror. There were two productive areas that he concentrated on, one out towards Scottie’s Corner at 22 wraps and the other at 27.5 wraps towards the W-Tree to the left of the Stink. He used Korda Dark-Matter Braid hooklinks with a snowman presentation made from a VNX Bottom Bait and a Mainline Cell Pop-Up.

The largest fish of the week to grace the bank fell to the rods of Dave “Golden Balls” Anderson fishing in Oblivion. Dave was on his second week of a two week trip and being successful in Big Southerly the week before; he fancied a change of scenery. Like the previous week, Dave took his time to find some clear areas in amongst the weed, feeling the lead down for a “donk”. He baited up with a Spomb each day putting in a combined total of 2-3 Kg over all three rods. On Sunday afternoon Dave called to let us know that he had once again had a fish from a swim with difficult form (we christened him Golden Balls from that moment on) and Soft Focus at 34lb 12oz was his reward. Having seen fish regularly patrolling along the marginal shelf he presented a bait in a clear patch in amongst the marginal weed at only 2 rod lengths out to the right hand side. A vicious take and buttock clenching fight resulted in the capture of a huge 56lb Mirror known as Mr Angry; Dave’s second fifty of his trip. He went on to land a further three fish; Sasquatch at 42lb 8oz, Elephant Tube at 27lb and The Clean Fish at 40lb, taking his tally to five for the week.

Darren Walker was also on his second week and had selected Bob’s Beach after a successful session in the Treeline. He started off the week fishing all three rods straight out at the Stink at 22 wraps, baiting with Sticky Baits Manilla boilies and maize. There were fish showing in the area regularly, but frustratingly a take wasn't forthcoming until the early hours of Friday morning, when a twenty pound Mirror made a mistake. In the evening Darren had watched Korda Masterclass 4 and the Lake Exclusive chapter, which was filmed at Gigantica. Danny had fished in Bob’s Beach during this film and Darren decided to replicate a tactic, he had employed. He switched one of his rods round to the right at 16 wraps towards the distant headland, and baited up with just maize. Fishing with four grains of Korda Fake Maize on an IQ D-Rig he landed another twenty pound Mirror after only a few hours fishing. It just goes to show that the thinking anglers can nearly always get a little extra out of their swim. Good angling.

Tom Burns was set up in Co’s Point for the week and he fished at 27 wraps straight out in front at the two small trees. After a couple of set-backs early in the week when he lost fish, a 31lb Mirror known as Two Faces made him very happy with his first Main Lake carp. He was baiting up with 3-4 kilos of boilies every day and his persistence paid off in the early hours of Saturday morning when he landed a cracking forty called The Punisher at 40lb exactly.

Gigantica regular Bob Fisher has chosen to spend his week in Big Southerly and after the recent good form of the swim, he spent some time searching out some likely areas to snare a scaly beast. Fishing one area straight out in front at 21 wraps with two rods, the other one was fished just in front of the left marker at 13 wraps to a clear hard area. He was baiting up every day with Activ Bait Solutions, Plan B boilies and fishing a snowman presentation over the top. After a couple of days with fish not showing in the area, they returned and Bob sealed the deal with a nice 23lb Mirror known as John’s Fish.

Jamie “Skippy” Woodman returned yet again to his favourite Stink swim for the week, and with the weed becoming more prolific out in front, careful swim exploration at the start of the week was essential to find the areas that were hard and clear. Once settled in he got a banquet of Activ Bait Solutions, Plan B boilies with Maize out for the fish to come and dine on. Disaster struck early in the week when he lost a fish during the fight, but morale was quickly restored when a 24lb Mirror known as Drop Scale paid him a visit; a just reward for his determination to catch.

It was an unbelievable weeks sport, with an incredible final tally of 46 fish landed between the group, setting a benchmark, which will take some eclipsing. The break down of the fish were 3 fifties, 7 forties, 12 thirties, 21 twenties and three doubles. Bailiffs Andy and James were kept busy all week taking photographs and trying to keep the catch log up to date. It was a brilliant week, which just flew by, in great company.

The work party week is taking place in July where we will be spending the entire week weed raking all the swims to clear channels in the swims which are weedy, and to turn over the bottom to get things stirred up. We anticipate the run of great fishing to continue for the foreseeable future. If you fancy getting yourselves in on the action, our booking calendar is open for 2018, so give Mark a call in the office on 01268 820 440 to get your week booked. We look forwards to seeing you out here in the near future. Until next time….